Folding leaf doors



Feb. 13, 1968 F. M CLENAN FOLDING LEAF DOORS! 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 10. 1966 FIG.

Feb. 13, 1968 F. MCCLENA'N 3,363,235

FOLDING LEAF DOORS v Filed Feb. 10, 1966 4 4 Shets-Sheet 2 Feb. 13, 1968 F. M CLEN AN FOLDING LEAF DOORS 4 Sheets- Sheet 5 FiledFeb. 10, 1966 FIG. 3.

Feb. 13, 1968 F. M CLENAN FOLDING LEAF DOORS Filed Feb. 10, 1966 4 Sheets-$heet 4 United States Patent 3,368,235 FULDING LEAF DOORS Frank McClenan, Radciitfe, England, assignor to Mather & Flatt Limited, Manchester, England, a British com- Fiied Feb. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 526,536 -Claims priority, application Gregzt Britain, Feb. 11, 1965,

6 Claims. (Cl. 16-90) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to folding door arrangements.

To guide the bottom edge of such a door arrangement there is provided a guide channel which is normally provided in a well in the floor and in which run the guide lugs secured to the bottom of the door. Hitherto, when impediments or obstacles, such as rails of railway lines, pass through the door opening, it has been necessary to cut a groove in the impediment to allow the lugs of the door to pass. Such arrangements have the disadvantage that the grooves tend to interfere with the rail traific even to the possibility of causing derailment.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement for folding leaf doors in which the provision of grooves in the impediment or obstacle are avoided whereby normal maintenance and replacement of standard components is possible.

According to the invention, there is provided a folding leaf door arrangement having bottom guide lugs, which have to pass an impediment or obstacle, adapted to slide upwardly against a restoring force, with the lower end of the lugs being so adapted that the lugs lift upon coming into contact with the impediment.

The restoring force may be provided by gravity but preferably it is provided by resilient means such as a spring.

The lower edge of each lug can be suitably shaped, such as for example chisel shaped, to facilitate the lifting movement of the lug; or alternatively, the lower end of each lug may support a rolling means, for example a roller.

There is a break provided in the guide channel at the impediment and. to ensure that the lugs correctly re-enter the channel, the ends thereof adjacent the impediment or obstacle are flared to provide a lead-in or entrance.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view partly in elevation and partly in section of part of a folding leaf door arrangement according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line 11-11 of the folding leaf door arrangement shown in FIG. 1, the view looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a lug on the folding leaf door taken along the line IIIIII of FIG. 2, the view looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a view generally similar to FIG. 2 of part of a 3,368,235 Patented Feb. 13, 1968 double folding leaf door arrangement according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of part of the folding leaf door arrangement shown in FIG. 4; and,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of an alternative embodiment of the lower end of the lug.

A folding leaf door 1 is provided for an opening through which rails 2 for a railway line, only one of which is shown, are laid so that the top surfaces of the heads or balls on the rails 2 are level with the floor. The door 1 is suspended from a track (not shown) which takes its weight and the lower edge thereof is provided with lugs 3 which run in a guide channel 4 having breaks therein to allow the passage of the rails 2.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, each lug 3 is vertically slidable between the flanges of vertical channel bars 5A and 6A mounted on flanges 5 and 6, respectively (see FIGS. 2 and 3) which channel bars and flanges are secured to one another by means of bolt or stud and nut assemblies 7 and 3, with the panels of the door 1 being fixed to the flange 6 by any means well known and used in the construction of folding leaf doors. The bolts of the assemblies 7 and 8 pass through an elongated slot 9 in each lug 3 (see FIG. 1). Above the bolt and nut assembly 7 and below the bolt and nut assembly 8, the lug 3 has enlarged portions 10 and 15 respectively, of cruciform shape (see FIGS. 3 and 4). A spindle 11 is located above the enlarged portion 10 and is integral with the lug 3, and a spring 12 is fitted about the spindle 11 to abut against the enlarged portion 10 and a fixed block 13 secured to the channels 5A and 6A by means of a bolt and nut assembly 14. Thus, the lug 3 is vertically movable against the restoring force of the spring 12. The lateral movement of the lug 3 relative to the flanges 5 and 6 is minimized due to the co-operating shape of the enlarged portions 10 and 15 and the channel bars 5A and 6A (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Below the enlarged portion 15, the lug 3 tapers into a chisel shaped end 16 with the sloping surfaces thereof facing along the channel 4 (see FIG. 1).

When the door is moved, the lug 3 running in the guide channel 4 contacts the head of the rail 2 and is lifted due to its chisel shaped end against the action of the spring 12 which forces the lug back into the channel 4 after passing over the rail 2. The ends of the channel 4 adjacent the rail 2 are flared to provide a lead or entrance for the lug 3 as it comes down off the rail 2.

To avoid the possibility of the leading post of the door becoming jammed due to the improper re-entry of the lug 3 after passing a rail, the leading post is provided with two or more lugs (see FIG. 1). Additionally, two guide supports (not shown) are provided at the top edge of the post to ensure that the post is not able to twist.

The second embodiment of the folding leaf door arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 is for use preferably when the gap caused by the impediment or obstacle such as a rail shown in FIG. 1, is greater than the centers of the lugs in the leading post of the door. In this embodiment a secondary pair of lugs 17 and 18 are slidable between the flanges of vertical channel bars 19A and 20A mounted inside two flanges 19 and 20 respectively, and the construction and operation are the same as that described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. The flange 20 is secured by means of bolt and nut assemblies to flange 5 of the pair of lugs on the leading post of the door 1, and spacers 21 are provided between flanges 5 and 20.

The flange 20 is longer than the flange 19 which is so disposed relative to the flange 20 that the lugs 17 and 13 are longitudinally spaced from the pair of lugs 3 of the leading post of the door 1.

The lugs 17 and 18 have an associated guide channel 22 running parallel to the main guide channel 4, and which guide channel 22 is also flared at its ends adjacent the rails to provide a lead-in or entrance for the lugs 17 and 18. In this way, smooth running of the door is ensured when the gap caused by the impediment or obstacle is unusually wide.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the door 1 is of double construction and is constituted by two parts which move towards each other to close the doorway, and away from each other to open the doorway.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative arrangement of the lower end of the lugs 3 in which the chisel shaped lower end is replaced by a roller, wheel or other rolling means 23 having a diameter to provide sufiicient upthrust to lift the lug 3 against the action of the spring 12 when contacting the impediment or obstacle, with the axis of the roller 23 being normal to the axis of the guide channel. Instead of a spring, the lug may be provided with any other resilient restoring means such as a block of rubber.

This invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the showings in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a folding leaf door arrangement for an opening having a well below the door, an obstacle located in the well and passing through the opening, a guide channel in the well extending substantially perpendicularly to the obstacle and having a break therein through which the obstacle passes, guide lugs on the bottom of the door for running in the guide channel and being capable of upward and downward sliding movement, and means operably related to the guide lugs normally maintaining the guide lugs downwardly yet permitting the guide lugs to slide upwardly upon the guide lugs contacting the obstacle.

2. The folding leaf door arrangement as claimed in claim 1 in which the operably related means is constituted by a spring.

3. The folding leaf door arrangement as claimed in claim 1 in which the lower end of each guide lug is provided with sloping surfaces facing along the guide channel for assisting the upward sliding movement of the guide lug against the action of the operably related means upon the guide lug contacting the obstacle.

4. The folding leaf door arrangement as claimed in claim 1 in which the lower end of each guide lug is provided with a roller having a diameter such as to provide suflicient up-thrust to slide the guide lug upwardly against the action of the operably related means upon the guide lug contacting the obstacle.

5. The folding leaf door arrangement as claimed in claim 1 including a second guide channel arranged in parallelism to said first guide channel, a leading post on the folding leaf door arrangement, and at least two guide lugs mounted on said leading post for running in said second guide channel.

6. The folding leaf door arrangement as claimed in claim 1 in which said guide channel is provided with a flared entrance opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 556,572 3/1896 Bataille 1687 698,939 4/1902 Hamel 16--87 2,015,270 9/1935 Henry l690 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH H. MCGLYNN, Assistant Examiner. 

